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Unfortunately, trying to get to the bottom of the lawsuit’s merits is much like trying to figure out the true origins of that “May you live in interesting times” curse. As M. Scott Boone, associate professor of law at Appalachian School of Law, told me: “The Patent Office was ill-prepared to deal with the onslaught…

Mr. Jobs is Disney’s largest shareholder with approximately 7.4% of outstanding shares, as noted in a Wall Street Journal article. Mr. Jobs acquired the shares as part of the deal for Disney to buy Mr. Jobs company Pixar, a deal that also landed him on Disney’s board. The Financial Times of London found experts in…

To which I say: Who cares? All right, I am sure there are a few people who care (and most of them will likely post critical comments here). But they make up a very very small minority. I contend that, for the rest of us, the MacBook Pro’s extended battery life is of trivial concern and,…

Ableton Suite 8 will get a new sound library with over 1,600 sounds, a new physical modeling instrument for creating realistic mallet sounds and percussion, Latin percussion, an updated Operator synthesizer, and more.Ableton Live 8 and Suite 8 should be available in the second quarter of 2009. Ableton Live 8 pricing starts at US$449, and…

“Obviously we are saddened by the news that Steve’s medical issues are more complex than he previously thought. However, we do feel a 6-month medical leave of absence is the right thing for Apple and believe the company is in able hands under the leadership of COO Tim Cook,” Mr. Marshall said. “It is our…

The Laptop Tote is a slim nylon bag capable of storing a MacBook or 15-inch MacBook Pro notebook, and includes a total of four pockets and a mesh bottle holder. The bag features an interior padded laptop sleeve and shoulder pad on the strap and arrives with a key ring attached to the exterior. The bag…

There are no categories, and they are listed in no particular order. Without further ado, below you’ll find the recipients of the The Mac Observer’s Editors’ Choice Awards for 2009.  Things and Things for the iPhone, Cultured CodeThings, for Mac and iPhone, from Cultured Code is an extremely well thought-out task management solution. It’s incredibly simple…

Apple has often chosen to release new software that seems limited, but is strong on a new way of doing things. Later, as users become accustomed to the app, evolutionary additions come, in a transparent way. That keeps the app fresh and simple, but incrementally adds power. This is what Apple is doing with iWork…

The mentally challenged tech press, pundits and analysts covering Apple are going to give him and Apple no peace. Most every single article regarding the company and its CEO, from here on out, will harp on, allude to, and/or call into question his health, his likelihood of not returning, and potential unclean hands on the…

In a letter to employees, Mr. Jobs said that his health was continuing to be a distraction to both Steve and his family, as well as Apple employees. “In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health,” he told employees, “and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering…

Apple introduced the Mini DisplayPort when it unveiled the new unibody-style MacBook and MacBook Pro last fall. At the time, Apple said that is would make details on the port design available to any company wanting to make compatible products and would not charge any licensing fees.DisplayPort 1.2 is also slated to add support for…

“Although LG Display already had a relationship with Apple, the deal’s duration and the size of the advance show that the two companies are involved in a long-term, strategic alliance,” Son Young-jun, a spokesman for LG Display, told Reuters. LG Display already provides some 70% of Apple’s displays for notebooks and Cinema Displays.

At Macworld yesterday I was chatting with Rob Griffiths who mentioned that a friend of his just doesn’t “see” the reflections. He wonders what the problem is that others complain about. On the other hand, Rob himself sees every tiny light bulb reflected in the display, and it drives him crazy. As soon as he…

Unlike many other projectors, which use lamps or LEDs and a lens to project an image, the SHOW EX uses laser light. The benefit of this is twofold. First, there is no need to focus; the projector can be placed at any distance from the projection surface. Second, you can get bright and vivid colors…

The Speaker Keyboard has an integrated dual speaker system for stereo sound, and volume and bass boost controls to control the audio. There are also media controls, such as play and pause, designed for use with iTunes and other audio programs. To round things out, the keys are backlit, providing improved key visibility in low…

Not very well. I started off with a bang, nailing that new versions of iLife and iWork would be the initial announcements at the Expo. From there, I quickly headed downhill. There was no preview of Mac OS X 10.6. Much worse, none of the hardware that I had anticipated showed up. No Mac mini,…

Mr. Munster also said that Apple’s move to a DRM-free iTunes catalog by the end of the current quarter will have a “slight positive impact” on iPod sales. He believes that DRM restrictions on iTunes music downloads had been a “significant barrier” to many music customers. As for the keynote, the firm said it believed…

New features found in iPhoto ’09 include face detection technology, GPS geotagging for sorting images by place and including maps in printed books, direct uploading to Facebook and Flikr, and new slideshow themes, including a shattered theme that breaks up photos and recomposes them. Slideshows can be saved directly to iTunes for syncing with an…

Though Mr. Jobs and Apple’s Board of Directors have insisted that his health was a private matter, investors reacted vigorously to the public news , pushing the stock higher. As of this writing, AAPL was trading at $95.30 per share, a gain of $4.55 (+5.01%) on moderately strong volume. Investors had been spooked in recent…

Version 10 also added several new database templates, new script triggers, the ability to save searches, the ability to import from Bento databases, and more. The company also announced FileMaker Pro Server 10. The new version of the server-level database solution gained server-side direct data import and export support, an updated PHP setup assistant, can…

In a statement, Mr. Jobs said that the cause of his weight loss had been a mystery to his medical team until just recently. “A few weeks ago, I decided that getting to the root cause of this and reversing it needed to become my number one priority,” he said. “Fortunately, after further testing, my…

Small size: The worst case scenario is that I would buy an original EEE PC which can be had almost anyplace these days for less than $300. These wee machines are cute, they are too small for me to do any real work on. Little memory, both RAM and hard drive: Again, the worst case…

Even though Macs are easy to use, for most users, simply plugging in massive hard disk isn’t a solution, rather, it’s just the beginning of what can be a frustrating management experience, especially if there are other drives using different connection protocols. Here are some tips I’ve learned throughout the years that may help. Step…

Apple, Microsoft and Google are all looking at more potential court time now that Cygnus Systems is suing the companies over claims that they are violating a patent it holds. The patent in question describes using icons to preview files before opening them — a feature common to many applications. The suit specifically identifies Mac…